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Preamble: For some reason this has been on my heart and mind - and maybe it will help somebody here on the CCAS Boards.

I've been having personal artistic epiphanies in the last few months, and even though I've been doing "Art" for 20+ years these little nuggets have helped me in creating better work now. I will be adding ideas every now and then. (Now if I can just get the speed epiphany, then I will be set.)

ThinkDraw, DrawThink
Argh! You scream. The art just doesn't look right - but you're on a deadline and you need to get the thing out the door.

OR you're an amateur, or a beginner and you know you're not quite where you want to be, or you have produced a comic, but you can't put your finger on why you're slightly shy about presenting it to the world at large.

The anatomy is off; the faces look funny; things on the page don't look quite right...and a thousand other little nit-picky things...but you pick up the pencil and keep on chugging - but nothing looks better, or worse, it just all looks the same...HELP!

STEP 1: STOP.

STEP 2: Breathe.
STEP 3: Pray. Think. Now consider.

The following is a method for THINKING. What has happened in the world of Art or Comic making is what I will now dub the "How To School" has kind of taken over - but it forgot to suggest "Here Are Some Methods of Thinking".

This crystalized when looking at a bunch of top notch artists blogs. They all work in the animation industry - and their stuff is eye-popping. But what stuck out to me was that they were all interchangeable. Change the name of one guy with the other, and very few would notice the person changed.

This told me something: At a certain point putting lines and shapes on a piece of paper can be done by anyone - and anyone can reproduce another person's look. So if anyone can put lines and shapes on a piece of paper, then why is it that you or me isn't out there with them?

So begins our journey.

These are not commandments. They are not set in stone. They are up for debate - if they help great. If you wish to add to it great. If you think of something else that helps you, or an idea that isn't on this list pops into your head GREAT!

1. Stop emulating the world. Emulate God. And his creation. Essentially - stop copying or making art that looks like someone else. You might really dig their style or approach - but that is them, not you. Consider the hope and life that God provides - let that permeate your work. Use real life to influence your work.

2. CLARITY ABOVE ALL ELSE. Make sure your images are clear and easy to read - or the idea makes sense. Either per page, per panel, or in a static independent shot. This doesn't mean you have to have clean Tintin looking lines or shapes - it just means can someone understand what they are looking at.

3. Consider the overall INTENT of your work before you start. Do you want to display Joy? How do you draw joy? Anger? How do you draw anger? Hope? Love? Peace? Apathy? Can you make the intent permeate through your line? Can that permeate your work. INTENT can also mean - is this fictitious? Whimsical? Funny? Truthful? Is it supposed to be a manual? For fun? Serious? etc. How does fun look? How does this is a clear teaching manual look (eg. airplane safety card)? (This has a part 2 see point 6).

4. OBSERVATION IS YOUR BEST FRIEND
Taking the time to look - and I mean really look at something and analyze how it shaped, or formed, and look at it for a period of time before moving the pencil, you will draw better than if you just dive in and start putting down marks. This goes for drawing individual items - to composing a page.

5. Art is the creation of Carefully Observed* or Carefully Considered* shapes and forms on a piece of paper, until you reach a sense of satisfaction of the final outcome.

Put another way: There is NO SUCH THING AS A LINE - ONLY SHAPE AND FORM. Use the pencil to make SHAPES. SHAPES. SHAPES. FORM. FORM. FORM. Living, interacting, breathing, dodging, weaving SHAPE AND FORM.

This does not mean you need to be a slave to perfect anatomy or to details or to absolute accuracy of the car, truck, flower, building etc. It means get things in the right place. (Though learning fundamental structure is still of huge benefit).

When starting out - don't get caught up on specific details - get your shape and form down first - and really work at those forms being in the right spot.
 
Carefully Observed* vs. Carefully Considered* - Sometimes you might observe a real thing - like your backyard, reference material, a photo, or a mug. This is "Observed" as in you looked at it, studied and analyzed it, and then put it down on paper.

Carefully Considered is you may not have a reference to work from - but you put shapes on paper - now you have to consider how do they work best on that page interacting with each other. Keep shoving, pushing and erasing until it looks like what you want.

6. Sometimes all you need is to make your Character and INTENT of that character one and the same.

What does a character named "Apathy" look like? What about "Awesome Power"? Can you make every form, shape and attribute reflect that concept? Toss anatomy out the window for now and just create that shape or form. Sometimes a character doesn't need fingers or toes...How about "Rage" or "Deceit", or "Perplexed" or "Serene" or "Kindhearted".

7. If stuck, always ask or draw...what if...

...There is more that has popped into my head - but this getting long.I may have rambled, but I just had to kind of vent it out - I may go back and edit this for clarity and/or adjust - but there are some more "Thinking" things that are still in my noggin somewhere.



Hope this helps.